Please note that Crossing Gibraltar is on hiatus, as we reorganize and refocus our work in changing times We hope to return to bringing quality artistic exchanges between artists and youth from refugee and newcomer backgrounds in fall of 2011.
Thank you for your interest.
For March Break 2010, Crossing Gibraltar will be in two locations!
On the East end of Toronto, we are thrilled to be back in the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Centre! Our partnership with Thorncliffe began in 2007 when This is Our Crossing performed in the space and the youth participants from the program lead a theatre workshop with the community. We are excited to be back!
On the West end, we are partnering with the YWCA JUMP in Etobicoke! Both locations will offer afternoons of theatre training for youth from refugee and newcomer backgrounds and a final field trip on the weekend to one of the city’s best productions.
We warmly welcome back facilitators Lisa Pijuan-Nomura and Tara Beagan, assisted by Esther Jun and Deborah Catriona and look forward to their leadership in March!
If you would like more information, or to join, please contact Ulla Laidlaw at ulla@cahoots.ca.
See you in March!
After 7 weeks of visits from guest artists and a trip to the theate, 17 youth from Crossing Gibraltar are thrilled to share their new performance skills with you!
Come join us for the Crossing Gibraltar’s culmination – a public presentation and community gathering.
Free!
Theatre Direct Studio
Artscape Wychwood Barns
601 Christie St.
(Just South of St. Clair Ave. West)
Saturday December 12th, 6pm
Performance, followed by a reception!
Crossing Gibraltar begins this season with a full 7 week basic theatre training program, running from Oct 31st – Dec 12th, 2009. We are thrilled to welcome 18 youth from the Jane/Finch area to join us!
The program, facilitated by multidisciplinary Lisa Pijuan-Nomura, will also feature professional guest artists teaching in forms as diverse as ensemble creation and hip hop dance – and more! Weekly, work with Lisa and with guest artists will contribute to the creation of a final presentation piece for public audience on December 12th, 2009.
During the program, with our gracious thanks to Theatre Direct’s support, Crossing Gibraltar will also be attending Beneath the Banyan Tree by Emil Sher.
Stayed tuned for more information on the location and time of our final performance! We look forward to seeing you there!
For the first time ever, Crossing Gibraltar is running a one-week intensive March Break Program in partnership with Native Earth Performing Arts.
We are thrilled to be working with Clifford, Deborah, Waawaate, Juliette, Hen Htoo, Say Nay, Melinda, Hayad, Amen, Tway, Blue Hei and Qiyan! Participants were selected from Crossing Gibraltar and Native Earth’s Young Voices program to provide a unique experience for these two groups of emerging artists and youth for a week-long workshop.
Working with award-winning artist Tara Beagan, the youth will begin a creative discussion around some of the shared and divergent challenges of being newcomer and First Nations youth. Morning creation and discussion sessions will be supplemented by 4 visits from established First Nations guest artists. The 6-day intensive will culminate in a public presentation and community gathering at Cahoots’ new studio!
By continuing to offer challenging and innovative opportunities for our youth, Cahoots commits to their further development as artists and their ability to invite the political into their lives.
This is a unique opportunity for:
3 emerging Native artists interested in creation and mentoring
5 emerging artists from the Crossing Gibraltar programs
4 young people from Mae La Oon, a refugee camp in Thailand
All participants receive honorariums, TTC, as well as healthy meals.
Presentation and Community Gathering:
Saturday, March 21, 5pm
Cahoots Theatre Projects Studio
218 Queen Street East, (east of Sherbourne)
Youth from Fall 2008 CG
Our youth program, Crossing Gibraltar will have a presentation of their new skills this upcoming Saturday, November 15th, at 7pm. This fall, we were thrilled to work with youth from the Mae La Oon refugee camp who now call Toronto their home!
Youth receive workshops in performance, honorariums, healthy lunches as well as TTC tickets. Please join us as we celebrate their new skills!
Saturday, November 15th
7pm – performance
8pm – reception
Driftwood Community Centre, Room 4
4401 Jane Street (just north of Finch Ave. on the East side)
RSVP to marjorie@cahoots.ca
Crossing Gibraltar 2008 – 2009 is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council.
This fall, Cahoots kicks off with new programming from Crossing Gibraltar. Now in its 3rd season, Cahoots’ theatre training program for youth from refugee backgrounds will travel up to Jane and Finch to run programming with the Burmese and Karen youth community of Toronto.
Last season, Crossing Gibraltar had the privilege of working with two youth from this community. They were an integral an inspiring part of the program and have been very enthusiastic to help bring this next program to life within their community!
Burma is home to over thirteen major Ethnic groups, including the Karen, Karenni, Taway, Shan, Rohingya and others. Their situation back home is one of enormous human rights violations. Ruled by one of the most brutal military dictatorships in the world since its independence forty years ago, the people are subject to forced porter work, forced labour and land confiscation among other abuses. Twice in this fourty year history, the military has crushed huge nation-wide uprisings – first in 1988, killing over 3,000 people, and most recently in 2007. As a result of these injustices, over 140,000 refugees are living in nine camps along the border of Thailand and Burma.
In 1989, Burma held its first and only democratic election, where Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Burma’s father of independence, won with over 88% of the seats. Though never granted her right to lead the country, her popular vision of a Burma where all ethnic minorities respect their differences and work together is one that remains forefront to the construction of a peaceful Burma.
Since 2006, Canada has welcomed 2,810 refugees from Mae La Oon refugee camp, an overcrowded home to over 10,000 Karen refugees. Those settling in Toronto do so primarily in the Jane and Finch area where they begin to adjust to the new challenges of living in Canada. Most arrive without basic English.
In Cahoots’ Crossing Gibraltar Mae La Oon program, we will form one group that welcomes Burmese youth of all ethnicities. Over the five weeks, primarily through non-text based forms, the youth will develop their own creative and theatrical skills, and have the opportunity to attend a professional theatre performance. Our programming will also include English language lessons taught by our tri-lingual (English, Burmese, Karen) translator. The program will culminate in a performance on November 15th – stay tuned!
